The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has approved Endeavour Energy’s and Ausgrid’s applications for early access to the new Demand Management Incentive Scheme (DMIS).
Ausgrid's and Endeavour Energy’s proposals follow recent AER approvals of applications from AusNet Services and Energy Queensland, acting on behalf of Energex and Ergon Energy, for early application of the scheme.
The AER published details of the new DMIS in December 2017. The new scheme encourages distribution businesses to find lower cost solutions to investing in network solutions.
To enable greater uptake of the new DMIS, the AER requested the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) to approve amendments to the National Electricity Rules to allow early application of the new DMIS. These amendments were made in April 2018.
Two distributors in New South Wales – Endeavour Energy and Ausgrid – have recently made applications to bring forward DMIS projects.
The AER considers the proposals by Endeavour Energy and Ausgrid demonstrate that the distributors’ plans to implement new demand management projects are likely to meet the specific requirements under the scheme.
Ausgrid will have a start date of 31 March 2019 while Endeavour Energy’s start date for application of the new DMIS is 1 April 2019.